🔗 Share this article

The UK's top law officer, one of the most senior Jewish ministers, has called on the Reform UK leader to apologise to school contemporaries who claim he racially abused them during their school days.

Hermer said that Farage had "obviously deeply hurt" many people, based on their accounts of his actions as a youth. He noted that the leader's "constantly changing" explanations had been less than credible.

“In his defensive responses to legitimate questions, not once has Farage truly condemned antisemitism,” Hermer informed a news outlet.

New Allegations Surface

A recent investigation last month outlined the accounts of several one-time schoolmates of Farage from Dulwich College.

One, Peter Ettedgui, said that a teenage Farage "would sidle up to me and utter: ‘The Nazi leader was correct’ or ‘gas them’, sometimes adding a long hiss to mimic the sound of the gas showers”.

Another student of colour alleged that when he was roughly nine years old, he was subjected to similar treatment by a older Farage.

“He approached a pupil flanked by two similarly tall mates and addressed anyone looking ‘unusual’,” the individual said. “That involved me on three separate times; questioning me where I was from, and pointing away, saying: ‘That's how you get back,’ to wherever you answered you were from.”

Since then, additional individuals have emerged; about 20 people have now stated they were either targets of or witnesses to deeply offensive actions by Farage.

The incidents they outlined cover the period when Farage was aged 13 to 18.

Evolving Explanations

The political figure has disputed that anything he did was "explicitly" racist or antisemitic, and has suggested the former classmates were not telling the truth.

Commentators have highlighted that Farage has failed to condemn antisemitism and other forms of racism in a wider sense in his responses.

They also cite his failure to sanction a colleague in his party, a MP, after she complained about the number of black and brown people she saw in television commercials. She later apologised for the remarks.

“Nigel Farage’s shifting account about his behaviour to his peers [is] unconvincing, to say the least,” Hermer stated.

He went on to say: “Claiming that two dozen individuals have somehow recalled incorrectly the same things about his nasty behaviour simply lacks credibility."

Demand for Accountability

“If he aspires to be seen as a legitimate candidate for high office, he has to address the fears of the Jewish people, and apologise to the numerous individuals he has obviously deeply hurt by his behaviour,” Hermer said.

“Prejudice in all its forms is anathema to the standards of this country and we must not permit it to ever become accepted in society.”

In a other comments, the Chancellor said Farage should “say something” if he wanted to appear as a true statesman.

“It is very telling how little he has to say, and the very careful language that both you and I would understand as being drafted in a particular way to say something, but also not to say something,” she noted.

Formal Denials and Subsequent Comments

In formal correspondence prior to the publication of the investigation, Farage’s legal team claimed that “the implication that Mr Farage ever was involved in, approved of, or led such conduct is categorically denied”.

Farage later seemingly shifted his position in an interview, remarking: “Did I say things as a youth that you could see as being playground talk, you could interpret in a today's standards today in some sort of way? Perhaps.”

He commented that he had “not ever purposely really tried to go and hurt anybody”. Farage subsequently released a further comment: “I can tell you categorically that I did not say the things that have been published aged 13, so long ago.”